THE YOUNG QUEENS 143 



exception that the bees are fewer In number, less circumspect, 

 and lacking in scouts ; and also that the young and virgin 

 queen, being unencumbered and ardent, will fly much further, 

 and in the first stage lead the swarm to a considerable 

 distance from the hive. The conduct of these second and 

 third migrations will be far more rash, and their future more 

 problematical. The queen at their head, the representative 

 of the future, has not yet been impregnated. Their entire 

 destiny depends on the ensuing nuptial flight. A passing 

 bird, a few drops of rain, a mistake, a cold wind — any one 

 ot these may give rise to irremediable disaster. Of this the 

 bees are so well aware that when the young queen sallies forth 

 in quest of her lover, they often will abandon the labours 

 they have begun, will forsake the home of a day that already 

 is dear to them, and accompany her in a body, dreading to 

 let her pass out of their sight ; eager, as they form closely 

 around her, and shelter her beneath their myriad devoted 

 wings, to lose themselves with her should love cause her to 

 stray so far from the hive that the as yet unfamiliar road of 

 return shall grow blurred and hesitating in every memory. 



76 



But so potent is the law of the future that none of these 

 uncertainties, these perils of death, will cause a single bee to 

 waver. The enthusiasm displayed by the second and third 

 swarms is not less than that of the first. No sooner has the 

 mother-city pronounced its decision than a battalion of workers 

 will flock around each dangerous young queen, eager to follow 

 her fortunes, to accompany her on the voyage where there 



